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Fleet sales have taken on a new significance for Renault Trucks — general manager for fleet sales Tim Huggins talks
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to Roanna Avison about his
plans to increase the company's share of this sector.
Fleet sales have not been a major goal at Renault Trucks in recent years. But last year a reshuffle led to the creation of a dedicated fleet sales team headed by general sales manager Tim Huggins, who has his work cut out to raise the firm's profile in the sector. He says: "We've spent the first few months setting out our stall, and considering who we want to approach and how to approach them. Huggins and his team of three are responsible for fleet operations for England and Wales; between them they look after everything from pan-European accounts to small UK fleets. "One of my aims is to get Renault Trucks back into the fleet world," he explains. "We haven't really been a big fleet player for a number of years. We've always held major accounts but we've not actively courted fleet business." Fleet customers need involvement from the manufacturer, assisting the network to provide the right level of service and response:"A fleet might not be 1,000-plus vehicles. It's not always a numerical issue; it's about how best we can respond to provide the services customers need. We also involve our distributor network in that because it builds the relationships with customers as well. "After all, we aren't always available at the end of the phone to take a call," he adds.
New horizons
Now that Renault is focusing on fleet sales. Huggins says it is an exciting time: "We've always had a fleet presence, but it's not really been a major focus. By giving the fleet business its own identity and a predetermined list of customers we're now getting a different kind of prospect there are new opportunities that will be developed either by us or through the network.
But he is adamant that whatever the team does. the important thing is the relationship with the customer, -whether we build existing ones or forge new ones. We and our network will also have relationships with people at different levels, from the fleet manager to the purchasing manager.
As a company Renault is not trying to isolate fleet sales and Huggins is keen to work more closely with the network. But he wants to build Renault's fleet presence gradually, rather than launching an all-out assault on the market: "We have to build relationships and awareness. Renault has fantastic products and brand, but we need to rebuild brand awareness with fleet customers.
-Seven to eight years ago a lot of fleet business was high-volume, buy-back stuff, but now we want to be judged on our long-term approach -giving customers the best service,proclucts and support. But we'll build ourselves up to that.We don't want to run before we can walk."
Huggins and his team will be looking for customers with fleets from 3.5-tonners upwards: "No matter what the level of business, the response will be consistent. Its just the invoice and technical specification that will change."
Organic growth
And on that front, Huggins wants to take the time to match customers' needs to the right vehicles from Renault's range. With this approach he hopes for organic growth based on a strong dealer network supported by a dealer development programme: "We will have a targeted action plan to ensure we meet our goals. We may find that we need to cement our relationships with existing customers or open doors for the first time.
"But rather than throwing mud and hoping something sticks, we will take a measured approach-picking who we want to deal with."
What's more, Renault is not out to target other manufacturers' fleet customers. Instead, says Huggins:"We'll be targeting people where we think there's potential for significant growth. We could go out and buy fleet business with the large rental companies, but that's not our business model. We want customers that deal with us because of the services and the vehicles we provide.
"We don't want cheap hits. We want sustainable business relationships and we're being realistic. We've set ourselves targets, but they're not based on pure vehicle sales. Our approach is to increase our footprint in the fleet market by being proactive rather than reactive.
And from a personal perspective, Huggins says it is good to be able to focus on such a clearly defined role: "Previously I also looked after general sales which included all sorts of things. Now I have one job and I'm enjoying that," •